So Good It's Scary

"And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it." (Jeremiah 33:9). If we had even the faintest idea of the wonders and glory that our Father in Heaven has in store for us, we would be terrified at the goodness of it. We don't have the space in our hearts or our minds to contain even the tiniest sliver of understanding of how truly wonderful our God is. The greatest joys we will ever experience in our mortal lives, our very happiest moments, the things that most deeply move us, are but shadows to the brilliant, blinding, all-consuming joy that awaits us when we return home to our Heavenly Father. When we are wading through tragedy and sorrow, when we are bowled over by pain and grief, when we are wrenched about by rage, drowning in depression, chafing at the chains of addiction, mired in misery, exhausted by heartbreak, it is easy to question why God doesn't just have a little compassion and give us a peek at why all of this suffering is necessary and some glimmer of hope that it will all be worth it in the end. The truth is, in our flawed and broken and hurting state, the true reality of our final reward would cause us to fear and tremble at the goodness of it. We have to keep struggling on in the dark because we wouldn't be able to bear the light just yet. For every trial that we face in the dark with no clear picture of our ultimate outcome and yet choose to trust in the Lord anyway, our hearts and our minds grow and expand their capacities to receive more and more of the light and truth and joy that the Lord has for us. We start life with a thimble and God has an entire ocean of goodness for us. We can't receive all of it yet, but if we continue faithful, we will eventually be given all that the Father has.